Artist Statement 2021

With today's penchant of having to label everything I would have to classify my artistic style as Abstract Expressionist.  This classification is deduced by the spontaneous process I employ.

In the predominate conceptual art world today my work has been dismissed as something purely decorative.  I would like to take this moment to heartily disagree with this nomenclature.  My works are what I would call heart centered.  They are not conceptual, or indeed, even come from the egoic mind.  You may find this rather refreshing not to have to read or listen to yet another person's personal point of view or opinion on something.  I discovered the more I quieted my mind the more I could sense and feel from my heart space, or the seat of my soul.  Simply said, these are intuitive works.  I am led by spirit and I co-create with spirit.

I used to title all my works but found it interfered with people's experience of them in that some  would disagree with the title or they would ponder why I had selected it.  If my desire is to keep the viewer in a "feeling" state, titling the paintings actually had the reverse effect in that they were instantly catapulted into their thinking mind.  By leaving the works untitled you are free to relate to the works on a deeper level.  Many people have visceral reactions to the works.

The world appears to be gripped in so much ugliness, chaos and fear.  I didn't want to add to the ugliness - I leave it to each viewer to decide for themselves whether I've succeeded or not.  Focusing on beauty even for a few moments can have lasting benefits to the viewer.  A deep breath if you will when you feel like you are drowning.  My work will not resonate with everyone but luckily there are a lot of artists out there!

Many of my previous works had words imbedded in them.  These are no different.  I recently read that a single word can be a prayer, so each work has one word pressed into the wax surface. My prayer for each viewer.